Late blight found in PA

A devastating disease that can affect tomatoes and potatoes has been found over the weekend in western Lancaster County. This is the fungus that can cause Late Blight which was responsible for the potato famine in Ireland in the 1840's.

Fortunately for potato growers, the strain of the fungus that was found this weekend is only known to affect tomatoes. It does have the potential to seriously affect the availablity of fresh, locally grown tomatoes this summer. It is somewhat unusual for the disease to show up so early in the growing season.

If you think you have late blight in your garden, call us at the extension office at 610-391-9840. We would like to get a sample from you and examine it to see if we can confirm it.

If late blight appears on tomatoes in home gardens in the Lehigh Valley this summer, you can try to remove all leaves and fruit with any symptoms. It is best to do this in the morning because any spores that are dislodged are likely to die of dessication before the dew forms which allows infection.

Fungicides may be used to protect unaffected fruit and foliage. For specific instructions on what fungicides to use and how often to apply them follow this link:

Current Comments

Hello - I have a magnificent 12 year old mimosa tree in my yard that is my pride and joy because of the butterflies and hummingbirds it attracts when blooming. It appears to be dying this Spring and has some leaves, but many dead branches. I know they do not live very long, but it still seems like a relatively young tree to me. I was wondering if I pruned back the branches, would it send out new shoots/branches? Or, is it just time for it to die? I hate to lose this beautiful tree!

Posted By: Helene Navarro | Jun 30, 2006 9:51:24 AM

Helen, I checked out Mimosa in my Manual of Woody Plants by Michael Dirr, and he says mimosas are highly susceptible to a vascular wilt, webworms, leaf spots and rust. If you have many dead branches it could be several of those. He also indicates that they can be killed to the ground, and will often send up new shoots, but you could be left with an unattractive bunch of suckers.
There's a couple of options. You could bring in a sick but still alive sample to our extension office to try to diagnose the problem. Or, you could prune out the dead branches and see what you are left with. (Be sure to sterilize your pruning tools between cuts with a 10% bleach solution in case it is a disease) Or you could cut it to the ground and see what emerges. Mimosas tend to self seed like crazy, so there may be a small plant starting nearby that could be the next generation for you.

Posted By: sue | Jul 1, 2006 1:25:48 PM

I think I may have found this on one of my tomato plants. When I saw it I kind of went into denial because two years ago it killed all of my tomatoes. I live in Berks Co.

Posted By: Jenn | Jul 12, 2006 10:59:08 AM

HI, Jenn, if you think you have it, you may want to take a sample into the Berks Extension office for comfirmation. They might want to know too.

Posted By: sue | Jul 13, 2006 11:33:47 AM

This sound like the Mimosa Blight to me. Mimosas are Japanese plants and apparently there is a fungus in the ground will eventually get them.
Savannah once had a double row of large mimosa dow Habersham street (or was it Abercorn)? A glory to behold. They were all gone the next year.

Posted By: Betty Sherrill | Jul 16, 2009 8:31:35 AM

Leave A Comment

NOTE: Please express your opinions in a civil and respectful manner. Insensitive, inflammatory and derogatory comments will be removed at our discretion.

Name:

Email:

URL:

Comments:

Remember My Info

about this blog

Master Gardeners are volunteers trained by Penn State Extension Horticulture Educators. Once they complete their training, they cooperate with service agencies and community groups on a wide range of gardening projects. Their talents and energies are directed toward providing a link between their community and Penn State Cooperative Extension and Outreach.